This article is part of our FanDuel MLB series.
A pretty standard 13-game slate is on tap Tuesday. Three pitchers sit at $10,000 or higher, all seemingly with plus matchups, with five more in the $9,000 range. Only Milwaukee has yet to make their plans on the mound known.
Pitching
Shane McClanahan ($11,600) vs. Baltimore, Carlos Rodon ($10,800) vs. Arizona and Aaron Nola ($10,600) against strikeout-prone Atlanta are all nice options. We won't debate their merits here, just simply state they play well if you can afford them.
Luis Garcia ($9,500) figures to be a popular pivot against always targetable Oakland. He's somehow facing the A's for the first time this season, but comes into the matchup in good form. Garcia has fanned at least five in seven straight. He's won five of those but only has two quality starts, so the upside might not be there Tuesday as he'll square off against Frankie Montas, making exiting with a lead no sure thing.
Spencer Strider ($9,100) makes perfect sense for GPPs thanks to his huge strikeout upside, even if he doesn't work deep. Five of his eight outs against the Phillies in late May came via swings and misses.
Perhaps it's obvious, but my favorite mid-tier option is Mike Clevinger ($8,100) at Detroit. The Tigers pounded Sean Manaea on Monday, with San Diego needing 4.2 innings from their bullpen, so we should see Clevinger work as many innings as he can. He's averaging a strikeout per frame to boot. There seems to be an incredibly stable floor higher than 3x value thanks to the matchup, with 5x certainly possible.
Jose Berrios ($8,900) has turned in three quality starts in a row and will take on a Cardinals side that will be without both Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt.
Mitch White ($6,400) merits consideration against Washington, but upside seems to be lacking. For just a bit more salary, I like Spenser Watkins ($6,800) as the slate's preferred pay-down. Tampa Bay sits with just a .301 wOBA against righties, a league-average 100 wRC+ and a 24.7 percent strikeout rate, the latter giving us some upside. Watkins is in great form, having allowed just five earned runs total across his last five starts while averaging 29.0 FDP in that stretch, a nice 4.3x value return. Keep an eye on the weather here, however.
Top Targets
Jose Abreu ($4,100) has as many home runs (two) as he does hitless games in the month of July. Perhaps that suggests a lack of upside given his price tag, but there's stability in his current form, and he gets the Coors Field boost.
The other side of this matchup presents pretty obviously for C.J. Cron ($4,500). He's hitting .373 against righties at home, earning a .458 wOBA, 186 wRC+, .306 ISO and 1.086 OPS.
In a similar power funk, Vladimir Guerrero ($3,900) has 13 hits in his last six games. He'll face Andre Pallante, who is allowing a .365 wOBA against righties as opposed to a .267 against lefties. The Jays are short on lefty hitters, making stacking here a possibility.
Bargain Bats
At the outset of this article, I wanted to stack Red Sox bats against the Guardians. Cleveland will use Bryan Shaw as an opener before moving to the rest of their bullpen, but what offense does Boston even have at this point due to injury? The only real name that seems certain to play is Xander Bogaerts ($3,000), who hasn't managed much run production of late. Keep an eye on this lineup, as Rob Refsnyder ($2,500) and Jarren Duran ($2,500) have slotted at the top of the order recently and would be intriguing if they do it again Tuesday.
Taylor Ward ($2,900) has fallen off a cliff, but still has a .402 wOBA and 164 wRC+ against lefties. Luis Rengifo ($2,200) is riding an eight-game hitting streak while posting a .381 wOBA against southpaws.
Tyler Gilbert looks like another left-handed arm we can safely work against, as he's allowing a .414 wOBA and .986 OPS to righties on the road. Darin Ruf ($2,600) is our default Giant bat against lefties, as he's posted a .294 ISO and .162 wRC+.
Stacks to Consider
Padres vs. Tigers (Garrett Hill): Manny Machado ($4,000), Luke Voit ($3,100), Jurickson Profar ($2,700)
Hill has allowed 11 hits and and nine runs across his last 10 innings, with one of those outings coming against Oakland, so we can feel safe simply trusting the matchup as opposed to the numbers. That's a good thing, because Machado's .366 wOBA against righties leads San Diego. Voit gives us some thump with a .242 ISO and allows us a little savings over Jake Cronenworth at $3,600. Profar has resumed leadoff duties, further giving us shares of a traditional top-of-the-order stack, and his 118 wRC+ is third on the team.
Rangers vs. Mariners (George Kirby): Adolis Garcia ($3,500), Marcus Semien ($3,200), Leody Taveras ($3,100)
Full disclosure, I didn't love many stacking options on this slate, so perhaps a couple of mini-stacks is the better play (Blue Jays and White Sox please). If we want to differentiate for GPPs though, here we are! Kirby has lasted 4.1 innings or less in two of his last three starts, giving up 19 hits and nine runs in those two outings. We'll bank on that and trust Garcia for some power upside and Semien for a most stable floor atop this order. Taveras gives us an upside play that can impact the game in different ways, and we can ride his current good form at a discount, opening up spending elsewhere.
